Visitor numbers are smashing records on the back of a weak yen, with Japan welcoming almost 37 million international arrivals in 2024 and seeing monthly highs throughout 2025. The global voraciousness for the capital (it ranks Top 10 in our Google Trends subcategory) has it doubling down on access, wayfinding and crowd-friendly public space. The Haneda Airport Access Line is under full construction for a 2031 debut and a 20-minute. Connection to the city, while airport capacity and wayfinding upgrades continue apace for the world’s most punctual big-city air hub.
Street level, the headline is the city’s High Line–style makeover: the Tokyo Expressway (KK Line) is being transformed into the Tokyo Sky Corridor, an elevated green promenade now in the design and activation phases, with initial openings targeted later this decade as companion works relocate adjacent expressway segments underground at Nihonbashi. Expect test programming and phased sections to animate Ginza and Kyōbashi well before full build‐out.The Shibuya district’s once‐in‐a‐century rebuild advances toward its 2027–28 milestone with new pedestrian decks, retail and office towers stitching together one of the busiest rail hubs on earth. This being Tokyo (where Nature & Parks ranks #7 globally) there’s still considered, human-scale urban layering and beloved interventions like the Kanda River revitalization and waterfront pilot projects in Odaiba.
Autonomous mobility trials scaled in 2025, with robotaxi pilots in Odaiba and Nishi‐Shinjuku and ongoing hydrogen/electric fleet trials supporting the capital’s low‐carbon push.
Hospitality had its own banner year. Janu Tokyo (Aman’s sister brand) settled into Azabudai Hills in 2024 with 122 rooms and a 43,000‐sq‐ft wellness center, joining The Tokyo EDITION, Ginza and a swelling roster of luxury flags. Azabudai’s retail gravity also jumped with the opening of a major Hermès flagship, while teamLab Borderless returned in 2024 as the district’s magnetic cultural anchor, which helps the city top our Museums subcategory globally). Together, these openings are pulling luxury spend and footfall south from Marunouchi and east from Roppongi.
The shopping‐dining‐culture halo extends to Ginza (with the EDITION’s rooftop crowd and perennial Ginza Six traffic) and west to Shibuya’s Miyashita Park, now fully normalized as a day‐to‐night urban resort that has a lot to live up to given Tokyo’s top spot in our Restaurants subcategory.